Selective Thinning… for Tree Safety

“Windsail Effect” damage can be prevented by thinning the upper canopy of a tree to allow wind to pass through

Filtered Views through trees can be established or restored with thoughtful planning and proper pruning

Proper pruning and thinning
Corrective Pruning and Selective Thinning of mature trees makes for safer trees. It requires a skilled arborist climbing out into the clumps of foliage at the end of each branch to remove deadwood, diseased tissue, crossing branches and make selected thinning cuts to reduce endweight. Making more numerous smaller cuts is preferable to making a few large cuts to reduce an equal amount of weight. Climbing “out to the tip” and performing proper pruning in a manner which retains natural branch balance takes skill and time.

Beware…running down the trunk
Corrective Pruning and Selective Thinning are supposed to result in a healthier more stable tree. To the average innocent tree-owner, seeing a big pile of branches on the ground indicates a lot of pruning… and value for dollars invested. Unfortunately, often that impressive volume of branches on the ground is the result of an arborist just “running down the trunk” or simply removing the branches from the interior of the tree closest to the trunk. After all, they are the easiest branches to get to. The most common term for this type of improper pruning is called “Lion’s Tailing.” The unhappy result is that most interior branching has been removed… leaving untouched the heavy lever of foliage out at the end of the branch. With the interior growth gone, the only place for future energy to be directed is to this heavy clump of foliage left out at the tip of the branch. As the tree grows, the tips get heavier and become MORE susceptible to breakage due to wind damage or excessive endweight. Proper pruning techniques contribute to tree health and stability. Improper “running down the trunk” cutting often results in a GREATER hazard.